Take Big Brother on Vacation with You

An anonymous reader writes "Book a flight or a rental car, and that trip and your companions' names, where you stay, what you eat, your bed size preference, in-room movie preference, and just about anything else you get a receipt for is etched in stone."

Comments

Fingerprints

[rf0]

Yes there is lots of detail that is stored about you, and yes it can be used to work out if you were a threat. However surely much of the same information could be found by people digging through your garbage, following you home from work etc...

The point I'm trying to make is that there is more information around that people realise. My supermarket know what I bought. Does that mean if the goverment saw that I never bought pork it means I'm Jewish or does it mean that I just don't like it?

As with everything its the analysis that can be worrying which can lead to the wrong conclusion

Rus

Re:Fingerprints

[cperciva]

However surely much of the same information could be found by people digging through your garbage, following you home from work etc... ... or by reading your blog. Sometimes I wonder if the ideal of blogging was initiated as a government attempt to get people used to giving details of their personal life to absolute strangers.

Re:Fingerprints

[LordKronos]

Sure, much of that info can come out of your garbage, but there are a few differences. First, I can take steps to control what gets put in my garbage. If there is something I really don't want people to know, I can take steps to dispose of it more securely (ex: burn it).

Another difference is that collecting info by going through a garbage can takes active steps on the government's part. They don't have the resources to go through everyone's garbage, so they focus on those they are really interested in. When they are actively focusing on a particular individual, they are more likely to get the data correct (if a mistake is made, someone is focusing on it and is more likely to notice it). On the other hand, with a passive data collection system like this, they just throw bulk data into the database. Nobody is paying any attention to 99% of the data that comes in. If it contains bad info, nobody really notices. Then when your name erroniously comes up in a search later (due to bad data), nobody knows anything about that data. Nobody knows the context in which it was entered (you only bought Catcher in the Rye as an English class reading assignment), or whether you actually did buy the Anarchist's Cookbook (that wasn't you). Next thing you know, before you even have a chance to sort things out, you're a "material witness" in solitary confinement in a federal lockup.

convinence

[dhuv]

I heard a guy from accenture talk about things like this and how it is possible with .net. He said if you want the convinence of companies to do things for you then you will have to give out information. You arent forced to give out that information if you do not want. There are options with everything. If buying some product requires you to give out your info then dont buy it and loose the convinence that it gives or use a competitive product which doesnt require your info.

Data Protection

[grahammm]

Keeping the data forever would be against the law (Data Protection Act) in the UK and I suspect also in rest of Europe.

Need for anonymous E-cash

[Lord Prox]

Here is another stunning example of why we need true e-cash. Anonymous E-cash, just like good ol greenbacks but useable in the new (and still under constant development) E-conomy.

Sure they say they will only use systems and tracking and cataloging and databases for limited uses and data types. Yeah right! Since when has the govt ever been handed a power and has handed it back after its orignal purpose has been fulfilled. I can't think of one sitting here writing this post. Once the system is built and limited powers have been granted, kiss off the rest 'cuz it is only a matter of time before the system/govt gets its fingers in the whole pie...



Right, wrong, irrelevent. What is, is.

Hrmm

[acehole]

All part of the wonderful services that the government provides for us.

regards,

Citizen #4534
CODE: ||| || |||| ||| |

etched in stone... or rather etched in clay

[bj8rn]

This reminds me of the ancient city of Babylon, where the authorities also collected information (to govern better...). What happened was, that at some point they couldn't handle it anymore. The information they collected was out-dated already after the request was issued. In the end, their bureaucracy dealed mostly with collecting and storing information, not governing. Oh yeah, and they wrote it all on clay plates, which they kept in large storehouses. When the city fell and was burned down, the storehouses were burned, too - effectively preserving the clay plates for thousands of years (they were discovered in the 20th century - real datamining ;).

information overload

[thesilverbail]

With so much information passing through Government data banks, a major problem that's gonna crop up sooner or later is how to sift through the junk and get to the significant data. I mean hey, if they're just going to be anal retentives and spend all day keeping track of people's sexual preferences, they're going to miss out on the juicy stuff (like who's been buying nitroglycerine by the quart.) So, maybe the sheer volume of information they get is going to insure us our privacy in the short term. If this sort of thing continue's, look out for data mining becoming the next big thing 2 years from now.

Six Degrees of Seperation

[AndroidCat]

You're linked to a terrorist. Sorry, it's true. Come with us.

Of course, through six degrees of seperation, you're supposed to be linked with everyone on the planet. (I question that, but without a traceroute for people, who knows?) My own link with terrorists is shorter than six. I once had some copies made at copy shop downtown Toronto. It turned out they were forging documents for terrorists.

Chilling coincidence. But what happens when programs start grinding a large amount of data and flagging any other coincidences? Perhaps I once slept in the same hotel on the same night as someone who is a friend of someone who might be a terrorist.. (You see how quickly you can march through those six degrees.) I have nothing to hide, but vaccum cleaner information gathering and processing bears watching -- Because we are all linked to a terrorist.

Commerical data collection on PBS

[MyNameIsFred]

Several years ago, PBS had a show on various companies that collect data on consumers and the methods they use. A few points they discussed:
1) There are companies that send employees to courthouses to collect data from public records, e.g., real estate sales, births and deaths, etc. (For anyone with a child, this is why you magically gets the first birthday photo coupons in the mail. For home buyers, this is why you get coupons from the local Home Depot.)
2) Everyone is aware of data collected thru credit cards, but there are other sources. Everytime you use your frequent buyer card at the grocey store, they know who you are and what you buy. Similar things occur with similar cards at other stores.
3) There are companies that specialize in correlating the above data with census records. Publically available census records provide average income and other information for each zip code in the U.S.
Add this to airline databases, and credit card info, and you have your life history.

How long before retaliation?

[Fritz Benwalla]

My problem with this system is that there are some many variables that are under human control, changeable by casual users.

So eventually this data is routinely collected and analyzed, and eventually people start having an image of what makes up their "threat score" or what really sends up red flags and gets your luggage torn apart every time you fly.

How long will it be before I encounter a rude airline desk attendant or hotel employee, and make a perfectly valid complaint about them - and they retaliate by changing my check-in data in subtle ways to make sure I am harassed every time I travel? Hard to do in credit systems, much easier to do in ridiculously insecure hotel systems, and it might even be as simple as changing the codes of movies I ordered in my hotel room, or my meal preference on a flight.

The government is making more and more information critical to their decisions on national security, with no understanding of the security of the data itself.

-------

Think you have nothing to hide?

[TarPitt]

Personal information is very useful as an adjunct to any sort of hostile interrogation.

This is well known in military circles, as discussed in a Slashdot story:

Suppose the following scenario: you are kidnapped, taken to a small room and tortured, then someone asks you for classified information, or to betray your country, or to do something that every fiber in your being resists. Then that person proceeds to enumerate the names, ages, addresses, and medical conditions of your family members. Perhaps they include a bit of data on where they go out to eat, or where they work, of if there's an alarm system on their house. They don't have to say where they got the data, the very fact that they have it at all could lead you to believe that they have much, much more of it. Most military members have family somewhere that doesn't live on base (parents, siblings, etc.) Information is the most valuable tool an enemy can have.

Don't think that only military prosoners are subject to this tactic. Police interrogations use this as well.

And if you are sure you will NEVER be accused of a crime? Consider any civil legal action. The opposing attorney reveals they know all sorts of private facts about you. Will you continue to press your case, or will you settle on unfavorable terms?

Someone with the personal details of your life has a certain power over you, regardless of how exemplary a life you think you have led.

You think that's bad....

[thumbtack]

When you use that grocery store discount card at 1AM on a Saturday, to purchase a 6 pack of beer, 4 packages of Oreos, 1/2 gallon of chocolate ice cream, a frozen pizza, and 7 slim jims you really think the DEA isn't going to think you had the munchies?